Infringement

Both a Sword and a Shield

Your intellectual property - patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and more - can be a sword or a shield. You may be accused of infringing a patent in which case you need to understand your options and, potentially, mount a winning defense; that's the "shield" part. Alternatively, you may have worked hard to develop intellectual property important to your success, and it may have been taken by a competitor, in which case you may want to sue for damages or to stop them from using your intellectual property; that's the "sword" part. Either way, we can help.

Patents

Patent litigation is like no other kind of litigation. A process unique to patent litigation called claim construction, which culminates in a "Markman Hearing" requires expertise and experience to navigate. As licensed patent attorneys and litigators, we see the whole picture.

Trademarks

Trademark litigation is deceptively simple. The basic questions are who started using the marks first, and is the later use likely to confuse customers. However, the traps for the unwary are legion. How much overlap in the type of goods and geography of use is there? Is the senior mark "incontestible?" You need an attorney who understands all these angles and many more.

Copyrights

Registration is the key to the courthouse with copyrights. After that, the various tests needed to show copying and how to prove them are subtle. Copyright damages are complex, and knowing how to deal with them can make all the difference in a case. We can guide you through the thicket of rules and precedents.